She was lying prostrate upon the floor, as I saw on
coming near, in a dead faint. She had evidently fallen so suddenly and
with such force as to have hurt herself; her head had struck against an
ornament of the bookcase, near which she had been standing; and a little
stream of blood was trickling from her temple. It made me sick to behold
it. As I looked at her where she lay, I could not but pity her a little,
and think what a merciful fate it would be for her, and such as she, if
they could all die,--and so put an end to what, I presume, though I
never before thought of it, is really a very hard existence.
"It was no time, however, to sentimentalize. I rang for a servant, and,
having waited till one came, took my leave.
"Of course all this is very shocking and painful, but I am glad I came.
The matter is ended now in a satisfactory manner. I think it has been
well done. Let us both keep our counsel, and the affair will soon
become a memory with us, as it is nothing with every one else.
"Always your loving sister,
"AUGUSTA."
* * * * *
It is better to be silent upon some themes than to say too little. Words
would fail to express the emotions with which Willie read this history:
let silence and imagination tell the tale.
Flinging down the paper with a passionate cry, he saw yet another
letter,--the one in which these had been enfolded,--a letter written to
him, and by Mrs.
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